Vote Due on Allocations to Israel

How much money Congress will allocate to Israel in the US government’s foreign aid budget for this fiscal year which began July 1 is expected to become clear by the end of this week. The House will vote tomorrow or Thursday on its Appropriations Committee’s bill which allows these sums for Israel: Up to $300 million in military sales credits; up to $50 million in economic supporting assistance and $50 million for the resettlement of Soviet refugees, including Jews.

Israel will also receive an estimated $3 million from a $25.5 million lump sum allocation for American schools and other institutions around the world. The exact allocations are to be determined by AID (Agency for International Development.)

AID TO SOVIET REFUGEES SLASHED BY $35M

The House may see a floor fight on the Soviet refugee assistance bill since both the House and the Senate have each already authorized $85 million for that purpose in the State Department budget. The House Appropriation Committee’s reduction of $35 million came to light in its recommendation to the chamber of a $4.2 billion budget for all US government foreign operations, a billion less than the Nixon administration requested.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today adopted a foreign aid program which authorizes a ceiling of $300 million for military sales and $50 million for economic assistance to Israel, the same as in the House measure. The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to act Friday on the funding after the expected House action on the $4.2 billion foreign operations bill. The latter includes, in addition to foreign aid, funds for the International Bank, the State Department, USIA and AID.